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July 23rd, 2017 
Carl Williams 
Life as a cactus is not exactly a life of action. You pretty much stand there in all the heat all day and soak up what little water you can. That is a normal cactus. The last cactus on Earth, who just happens to be the star of Space Cactus Canyon on the Atari 2600, is no normal cactus. The rest of the cactus on the planet have decided to relocate to a much more temperate climate on Mars. Humans have decimated the planet, having just concluded World War XII. While the overall population of humans is nowhere near what it used to be, the ones that are left are hoarding all the water available. This won’t work for a cactus so your quest in life is to leave the planet.
The background setting for Space Cactus Canyon is the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada. Considering life is nothing like it was back in the 21st century, the scenery doesn’t match much of what used to there. The world is destroyed, barren, and there is danger around every corner. Humans are mean, that seems to be the moral of the story here.
There are over 30 screens to complete, each with its own mix of humans waiting to end your quest to simply leave. Some are armed with plasma rifles while others have hidden machetes. Basically, if it is human, avoid it at all costs.
Games like Space Cactus Canyon are interesting, they take on challenges that mainstream publishers would probably not touch – such as a space faring cactus. Considering the limitations of the hardware it can be difficult for new homebrew independent developers to make their work stand out against that of others. Space Cactus Canyon certainly stands out against the other recent games released for the Atari 2600. We hear that there may be a cart edition available in the AtariAge store sooner than later too.
Source: AtariAge forums
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